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DREAM HOME (2010)

Directed by Ho-Cheung Pang
Written by Ho-Cheung Pang (story/screenplay), Kwok Cheung Tsang & Chi-Man Wan (screenplay)
Starring Josie Ho, Michelle Ye and Eason Chan

DREAM HOME is the Hong Kong slasher film released last year which centers on an opportunistic girl who will resort to murder to get ideal real estate. Though I found the lead actress’ voice to be a bit shrill, DREAM HOME is a gore fest and slasher film lover’s delight. It’s also a film as timely as ever, focusing on the desperation one has regarding real estate and the desire and often disappointment associated with seeking to fulfill one’s dreams.

Cheng Lai-sheung (Josie Ho) will do anything to live in a nice place. She wants a spacious place overlooking the harbor, but with property costs soaring through the roof and the dollar not worth as much as it used to be, what’s a telemarketer to do? The film tries to answer this question by casting Cheng as a quiet yet determined young woman, yet also showing that she’s somewhat frayed around the edges. With a graphic murder in the first few seconds of this film, immediately you are made aware that this is going to be a bloody one. But after the bombastic opening, the film slows to show how this woman gets to be so desperate.

The selling point of this film is the gore. If you’re the type of ghoul that is entertained by over the top gore, DREAM HOME has it in spades, and the kills are quite unconventional as well. Ho-Cheung Pang uses a charismatic lens to make all of the shots seem exciting. The deaths are creative, using non-conventional weaponry (my favorite being the two by four to the mouth scene, which comes back to haunt our killer later in the film). Yes, the kills are over the top and sometimes absurd, but given the realistic horror of the current financial crisis the world is in, some uber-gore is exactly what we need otherwise this would-be a downer of a film.

With DREAM HOME, I didn’t know everything there was to know going in. DREAM HOME deals with timely issues in a gory, fun way.

Check out the trailer here!!